The following graph shows the number of customers who purchased something from a store in September and October. Explain how you could redraw the graph so that the change in customers between the two months does not seem so great.

Question

ambi · Answer

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ambi · Answer

So if I had to redraw it, I would increase the graph of September by 1 and decrease the graph of October by 1 to make the gap not seem so great?

mrnood · Answer

the step up from the first to the second LOOKS like it's about half the height of the first

HOWEVER if you look at the numbers on the scale you can see that the change is only about a 2% increase.

This is a 'trick' often used by advertisers - note that the chart scale does not start at 0

try drawing it with a scale starting at 0

mrnood · Answer

You can't do what you suggested because that corrupts the actual data - which is what we are trying to display on the graph

ambi · Answer

Oh yes, I didn't catch that. Thanks a lot :)